Use winter to make your home a safe haven

Winter is the season when everyone feels like staying in and just curling up on the couch with the remote. But it can also be a great time to get organised and turn your home into a real sanctuary for your family by the time summer rolls around again.

And why not start with some easy and relatively inexpensive ergonomic changes to make it significantly safer?  Here are some ideas from our latestProperty Signposts newsletter for kitchens, bathrooms and storage spaces, which are the main culprits when it comes to home injuries:

*Re-organise your kitchen shelves and storage cupboards so you can prepare food and cook without having to dig through drawers for the right knife or kitchen tool or lift heavy items off high shelves.

*Invest in a small, sturdy step ladder for your kitchen. Climbing on to your counters or asking your children to do so to reach high shelves is risky.

*If you have a corner cabinet, use a "Lazy Susan" turntable to ensure easy access to items at the rear.

*Use "floating" storage. In a small kitchen, regularly-used items such as a shopping list, notice board, scissors, can opener and vegetable peeler can have magnets attached and be placed on the fridge to save space.

*It's easy to slip and fall in a bathroom so don't store spare shampoo, soap or showergel in hard-to-reach spaces under the bathroom basin. Rather hang an extra storage caddy next to the bath or in the shower.  

*If your bathroom cabinets are at eye-level, consider freeing up some shelf space by hanging some storage containers below them for toothbrushes, shaving gear, hairbrushes and handwash.

*In a small bathroom, you can use the back of the door to hang an extra  towel rail, a mirror or storage containers, while a shelf or two above the toilet will make the most of a guest cloakroom. 

*Garages and garden sheds are notorious for rapidly filling up with things that have no other "home" and becoming a really disorganised trip, slip and fall health-hazard. Investing in some stackable clear-plastic storage bins and inexpensive wall racking will save you a lot of time and frustration.

*Don't allow cutter to accumulate. Hold garage sale or donate all unwanted/ unused items from your home at least once a year.

*Organise your garage storage bins so the most seldom-used items are at the back or the bottom, and keep old files and paperwork in a proper filing cabinet or rack rather than in heavy, unorganised boxes.

*Install wall racks and hooks for tools, cables, paint cans, pool chemicals, hoses and bikes, and set up proper storage slings, racks or bins for canoes, surfboards and other sports equipment.